WESTERLO — The Westerlo Volunteer Fire Company has received $22,753 in federal funds that it is using to purchase equipment to help firefighters stabilize vehicles after a crash to make it easier to extract the drivers and passengers.

The department has purchased a set of Paratech struts, said Fire Chief Kevin Flensted, for stabilization. “If a vehicle is on its side or upside down, it anchors it,” he said.

The company has also purchased Paratech airbags, which can lift a vehicle. “You inflate them so, if a person is pinned underneath a tractor, you can get them out,” said Flensted.

The company’s volunteers were scheduled to train with the airbags and struts on Oct. 7.

Flensted said of the new equipment, “It makes it faster and more efficient to remove a patient from the car.”

He also noted that, in recent years, there has been a major shift in the duties of firefighters. “The fire prevention campaigns of the eighties and nineties worked,” he said. “We have fewer fires. Most all of our calls are for auto accidents.”

The $22,753 is an Assistance to Firefighters Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in cooperation with the United States Fire Administration.

The primary goal of FEMA’s Assistance to Firefighters Grant program, according to a release from Congressman Paul Tonko who announced the grant, is to meet the firefighting and emergency response needs of fire departments and nonaffiliated emergency medical service organizations.

Eligible projects include professional training, wellness, and fitness programs equipment, personal protective equipment, modifications to facilities, and supplies that support firefighting and non-affiliated emergency medical service operations and safety.